


he reached out but she was the one who roped him in

by ollie420



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Curses, Dark magic?, Family Drama, First hogwarts fic!!!!, Gen, Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Hogwarts First Year, Hufflepuff Pride, Nervous Keagan MacMillan, Original Character(s), POV Original Character, Prompt Fic, Pureblood Society (Harry Potter), Purebloods (Harry Potter), Slytherin, The Sorting Hat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 22:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30146511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ollie420/pseuds/ollie420
Summary: Keagan Macmillan wanted the impossible. The one thing that's out of his reach, but he just kept meeting people who trailed him along with their crazy tactics.
Relationships: Keagan Macmillan & Lady Macmillan, Melania Macmillan Black & Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 1





	he reached out but she was the one who roped him in

**Author's Note:**

> I am not british, so feel free to critique me. Also this was written in less than an hour. so bewaree!!!

_The memory is hazy but I still remember the time I got sorted._

The dusty hat material that made it hard to breathe was sitting upon my head. Just like what an old hat should be like.

I remember memories flashing suddenly, words, lots of words and actions and feelings going through my mind all at once like it was being sucked into a tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel was where the answer was. The answer of what the next 7 years at Hogwarts would be like. A simple and normal life. 

The hat was saying something unintelligible to Keagan, while Keagan was lost in his own swirly mess of brains. 

He had no clue where he would go, but Merlin, he hoped it wasn’t in Gryffindor because so far no one was more annoying than Lavender Brown. She talked her head off the whole boat ride here. 

The boat ride was musty and cold--Keagan’s getting off track. What house is he oh-so-destined to be in--

_You are a worrisome one aren’t you lad?_

Keagan's are now hallucinating definitely because there is no way some hat with a scruffy voice was talking into this brain right now. Why couldn’t anything be normal at Hogwarts? This is not what a hat should be like!

The hat chuckled.

Oh this is real, isn’t it? He’s really doing this.

Keagan is painfully nervous, maybe if he thinks of fake scenarios and memories in his head he can dictate what house he goes in.

_Surely not, don’t you reckon a hat might be smarter than that?_

Damnnit.

_Keagan Macmillan. Pureblood._

_You’d do well in Gryffindor._

That’s a joke. Must be. No way was he going into the same house as Harry Potter. He wanted to be normal for Merlin’s sake!

_Ah yes, Harry Potter. You two could be great friends._

No. Way.

He’d rather be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw! Be a normal bookworm or a normal good-hearted-Hufflepuff. No way would he be a Gryffindor.

Hat, if you’re reading my mind right now just throw me into Hufflepuff! A normal Hufflepuff Macmillan just like his parents, like his parent's parents, and his parent's parent's parents. 

_You are definitely as bull-headed and stubborn as a Gryffindor._

_Do you want to be normal so bad?_

Yes. Yes. Keagan does want to be normal. The most plain-looking boy ever. Average grades, average everything. 

The hat chuckled again.

_You know, I have the perfect house for you Macmillian. You will definitely appear normal there._

Yes! The hat was finally listening.

_Might as well be - “SLYTHERIN!”_

His eyes shot open.

“You blasted that!” His words came tumbling out and he nearly fell off the chair.

There was no way. He’s from a Hufflepuff family for god’s sake!

That sodding hat tricked him!

_Merlin. If he could travel back in time, he would._

-

Keagan Macmillan. Normal. Definition of societal normal he would say.

Light skin, brown hair, and blue eyes. Normal looking kid. Average height, average studies. Average everything. He was a pureblood with a loving family.

Until he got cursed when he was 5.

Apparently, he insulted some old portrait and the portrait had cursed him. Apparently, it was one of his great-great-great aunts. Isn’t family supposed to forgive and forget when you make mistakes?

Forgive and forget. That’s what they told him after his aunt had cursed him. Bloody painting.

The curse had made his life as hard as it was for dumbledore to get a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. ( That’s been going on for about the time Dumbledore was headmaster, who knew? )

No one knew the name of the curse, It had apparently been some ancient-dark-curse. Hufflepuffs were underestimated, and scary.

The side effects were mild though, to everyone but Keagan. 

Keagan suffered.

Every day was something new, someone random would come up to him and ask him to do something for them. Something that was always out of the norms.

Every day something weird would happen to him, no matter if it was a blessing or curse.

Never did he have things go his way. At all.

It went from his favorite plant growing massively in size and overcrowding his bedroom

To his own reflection in the mirror escaping and running off with his glasses.

To him being late for an event and suddenly having wings on his shoes

To him accidentally falling into a dragon’s den in Egypt and having the dragon kidnap you, confusing you as its child.

He ended up fine afterward, he always did. That’s the good thing about the curse. It throws you in for a wild one and then reels you back after giving you the scare of a lifetime.

-

_He was supposed to be having fun. This is boring._

_His mother was talking to their vaults manager._

_Something about artifacts._

_Keagan was a curious boy and he wanted to roam the world._

_His enchanted airplane toy was getting boring, as it couldn’t fly that far._

_“Keagan, stop it. No need to be fussy”_

_Keagan was not being fussy._

_He was not._

_Maybe a little bit._

_But who cares? He’s bored!_

_He stuck his tongue out at his father._

_His mother turned to him. “Keagan, you can ride on the cart down to one of the vaults. But you have to take a house-elf with you, alright?”_

_He nodded many times. He wanted to ride the cart._

_“Okay. Jill!”_

_A pop and a crack was heard, Jill appeared. “What can I do for you Lady Macmillian?:_

_“Take Keagan here down to a vault. He likes shiny things anyways.”_

_Keagan did in fact like shiny things now. Whatever shiny even meant. He didn’t care. He wants to see the shiny things!_

_He bounced up and down on his feet excitedly, “Yes! I want to see the shiny things!”_

_“Alright, Lady Macmillian. Jill will take Master Keagan down to see the shiny things.”_

_He got to ride on the cart. It was exhilarating. And so fun! He was no longer bored, and this was very amusing. He really wanted to see the shiny things._

_He arrived at the vault, it had a very large and creaky door that was then unlocked. He opened and saw golden coins! The shiny things!_

_He pawed at the coins excitedly. Wondering if he should take some with him._

_He played around with the coins, tossed them, and played a game of throw with them. He made his own goal of knocking down a stack of coins with one coin._

_He threw another golden coin. It hit something behind his stacks of coins._

_“Who has thrown this at me!? Show yourselves!” Keagan was smart and could tell the woman's demanding tone meant he should show up. He should apologize for hitting her._

_He walked over, and there he saw not a person, but a portrait._

_A talking portrait. There were some in his home but they mostly ignored him. They thought he was far too childish to talk to._

_“My apologies. I hadn’t meant to hit you.”_

_“What a silly boy you are, not even addressing me when you say sorry.”_

_He felt his cheeks burn, he didn’t know the woman's name and he had trouble reading the carved nameplate._

_“My apologies, Lady…” He trailed off_

_“Lady Melania.”_

_Keagan knew who that was. All purebloods extensively studied their family tree._

_Lady Melania Macmillian. She married a bloke of the Black family._

_“Yes, Lady Melania. I’m sorry for hitting your portrait. I hadn’t meant to and I shall not do it again.”_

_“That’s better albeit still horrible. Your manners are lacking in many ways. Atrocious.”_

_Keagan stayed silent. Embarrassed._

_“What was it you were trying to do?”_

_“I was trying to hit a stock stack with another coin, Miss.”_

_“How boring. Games have gotten this plain?”_

_He didn’t know what to say, he thought it was quite fun._

_“Well, times have changed Lady Macmillian.”_

_“Looking at you, one has to assume they have. I was doing much more interesting things at your age.”_

_“Really?”_

_“Yes. What age are you, about six or seven?”_

_“I’m five.”_

_“Oh, and a little more than average height. That’s something at least a bit interesting isn’t it?” She kept talking_

_“Five and doing such boring things. You only sit around all day, don’t you? So boring. Just like Arcturus.”_

_“What was great Uncle Black like?” Keagan remembered the lady’s own history, the only thing memorable to him about her is her marriage with Arcturus Black._

_“A boring man. Stuck up. Just another average pureblood man. I thought he would be interesting, and his Slytherin ways tricked me.”_

_“How?” he asked. He was hooked now and wanted to know what happened._

_“He showed me a little bit of an adventure at first, you know. Sneaking out at Midnight, hiding behind tapestries. Pulling silly pranks on the Gryffindors..” She spoke as if she was remembering something very very long ago, something very very out of her reach._

_“Then he married me. And then he got incredibly and dreadfully uninteresting. The most normal, the most average. All he wanted to do was have an heir and raise his social status. Just like any other man.”_

_“He thought I would be an easy option. Pureblood, pretty, decent social standing. A Hufflepuff. A naive Hufflepuff he thought I was.”_

_“He raped me in like a fisherman with bait. When I bit, he didn’t let me go even after I realized there was no treat.”_

_“Sounds fairly annoying,” Keagan mumbled._

_“Yes it was indeed, and you are seeming just like him.”_

_“Always doing plain things..plain... Very so plain…. Those books... “ She was mumbling now._

_“What should I do about it? There is nothing to do.”_

_“You know what boy… I have an idea.”_

_“I’ll hear you out.”_

_“Let’s strike a deal, I’ll give you the most interesting life I can think of. Just exhilarating. It will be such a delight. You’ll go on many adventures and meet many amazing people.”_

_“I’ll give you the most imaginative life I can muster up.”_

_Keagan pondered. He wanted something fun, he wanted a delight. She was offering, she was offering with her wicked and intoxicating smile.._

_Her smile looked just like a sly fox. But he didn’t care. He wanted what she was offering. But at what price?_

_“What’s in it for you? Isn’t this deal a bit too good?”_

_“Don’t worry about that boy, I will have a most joyous laugh after this. You will come to me when you’re of age. 18 years old, you will come back and tell me all the stories and experiences I’ve had given you.”_

_She had this dark look on her face like she was plotting something that would knock the air out of his lungs and trip him up for the rest of his life._

_But in her eyes, you can see the emotions in her eyes. The sweetness and joy she was feeling right now, just offering this up to me. Keagan was hooked on that sweetness and he wanted more._

_“To seal the deal, Let’s shake hands, boy.”_

_“How would I ever do that with a painting?”_

_“Oh dear, you are plain. Just reach in and grab my hand!”_

_He moved his hand up to the painting, hesitating, but suddenly Lady Macmillian's cold hand shot out of the portrait and grabbed him, reeling him in and then pushing him back out. His mind went blank and he could only remember his house-elf bursting in and yelling._

_Keagan was in for the ride, the carriage door was jammed and he couldn’t get out now._

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I am offering free-one-shots. View my profile for more details!


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